Harry in a coma
by rojekera
Summary: Before Harry starts Hogwarts, Voldemort is abducted, Harry goes into a coma and the Death Eaters are all dead, read to see how this will play out. A different spin on a familiar ending. NB No Goblins were baked into pies for this story.
1. Chapter 1

As usual, JKR owns the Harry Potter world. I am just embarrassing myself,playing in it.

The alien vessel, manned by the race known as the Qbt (pronounced ker-but), was moving slowly through a star system with a medium sized sun with nine planets circling it. According to the historical records there was life on the third planet from the sun, and he was interested in seeing what stage of development they had reached. When his people had last passed through this system, the humanoid inhabitants were still cave dwellers, using stone tools.

As the vessel approached the planet, he decided to visit the northern hemisphere, as this was where the biggest land mass occurred. His sensors picked up a large amount of electronic signals, as well as small artificial satellites orbiting the planets. He noticed lots of pollution, and signs of nuclear activity, some from weapons, most though from factories apparently using nuclear reactions to produce energy. The plants however were the inefficient and dangerous fission reactors.

The cloaked ship kept on collecting information as he drifted over the large land mass, and he realized that the electronic signals were showing more than fifteen languages, the planet was definitely not unified. He eventually decided that it was time to leave, as though the planet had improved from the stone age, they still had very far to go, before they were ready to meet beings from another planet.

His final act however, would be to abduct a being from the planet, so that he could check out their biological development. As usual for this type of action, he focused on a relatively uninhabited area, using the assumption that a person by themselves would be missed less, than someone from a densely populated area. His scan picked up a being sleeping by themselves in a forest, and he quickly beamed him into one of the holding bays, leaving him there to be checked over at a later point. He then set his navigational system to send the ship to the next star system he was interested in, about twenty light years away, and engaged the faster than light drive. In less than a minute, the ship was already approaching the new system.

Meanwhile in the holding bay, a panicked person woke up, a man named Quirrell, who had the night before made contact with the entity Voldemort and had hosted the spirit in his body for the night. Voldemort was in pain, as his connection to his soul anchors and his marked followers had suddenly become very strained, causing him pain, and making his pain wake Quirrell.

As Quirrell opened his eyes, he realized that he was no longer in the forest he had fallen asleep in, Instead he was in a sterile room, lying on a bed, with machines lining the walls. He panicked and cast a spell, realizing that there were more rooms to his right, but nothing to his left, he immediately twisted and apparated himself himself, as far as could to his left. He materialized in space, and imploded as the pressure of his body gave way to the vacuum of space. Voldemort's spirit separated from the goo that was Quirrells body, and was left hanging in space, wondering where he was.

AN

This story started as a means to meet an off the cuff statement I made on my profile page, about leaving Voldemort hanging. Having achieved that goal, I decided to expand it. Hopefully, you the readers find it enjoyable.


	2. Chapter 2

JKR still owns Harry Potter. I am only having fun with it.

Meanwhile, in Little Whinging, Surrey, a Parent Teachers Meeting was going on, with a Mr. and Mrs. Dursley talking to the teachers about their son Dudley and nephew Harry Potter, who were both at the meeting with them. Suddenly Harry grabbed his head and collapsed. Mrs. Dursley started shaking him, telling him "Stop faking and get up"

Another parent, a nurse at the local hospital, who was already concerned about Harry's appearance, half starved, and dressed in old clothes that looked like hand me downs from his bigger cousin, especially when compared to the two male Dursley's obese figures, and well fitted and new clothes, shouted " Stop"

The nurse then came over and arranged Harry so that he was lying down flat on the ground and started asking Mrs. Dursley questions about his health. It soon became apparent to the nurse, as well as other persons who overheard the conversation, that Mrs. Dursley had never taken Harry to a doctor. The nurse then asked the school teacher to call the local hospital to send an ambulance for him, as he appeared to be in a coma, for unknown reasons.

All across magical Britain, persons who had a certain tattoo were holding the marked area and had collapsed, Where the spouses were not similarly marked, and were present, they grabbed the affected persons and took them to St. Mungo's the wizard hospital in London. In an old castle in Scotland, a man in a dungeon had also collapsed, but no-one realised it, and he stayed by himself, until late the next day, when some of the other adults in the castle, that was home to a school of witchcraft and wizardry called Hogwarts, noticed that he had not been seen since the previous day.

Back in Little Whinging, Harry Potter had been checked over by the ambulance attendants and as they were also puzzled by his coma, taken and admitted to the hospital, over the Dursley's protests. The hospital staff, like the nurse at the school, was not impressed with them and made a note to contact the child services department on this matter.

For the next month, there was no change with Harry, he remained in a coma, and in the hospital. The marked followers however, within a week, had all died without regaining consciousness, leaving some very worried people behind, as the only connection between the cases was the tattoo they shared. In Hogwarts, the Headmaster, one Albus Dumbledore, was worried, his Potions teacher was dead, and his Defence against the Dark Arts teacher had never returned from his sabbatical. It was always difficult to fill the DADA post, but this was the first time he lost a teacher before the year even started.

In the wizard prison, Azkhaban, the warden was puzzled. All the followers of the wizard known as Voldemort had collapsed and died, nearly at the same time, except for the person alleged to be his second in command,one Sirius Black. He had read in the newspapers that a number of wizards and witches had also died, and the only factor in common they shared was the dark mark. He then inspected Sirius Black's body and realised that dirty as it was, it was tattoo free. When he asked Sirius why he was not marked, he was told "Because I was never a follower of Voldemort, I was dumped in here without a trial, and I never betrayed the Potters or cast the spell that killed the muggles"

The warden left, locking the door behind him, and when his shift was over, went to the Ministry of Magic, and made a appointment to see the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, a Ms. Amelia Bones. He told of his thoughts, as well as the statement made by Black. She called her secretary and asked her to get the court dockets for November, 1981. When they came, she and the warden looked at them and saw that there were no entries indicating a trial for Sirius Black. The warden then asked her to check the logs for prisoner transfers from Azkhaban, and they noticed that Black had never left the prison, since being admitted in early November, 1981.

Ms. Bones then asked her secretary to bring Sirius's file and after reviewing it, told the warden that she would arrange for a trial at the next sitting of the Wizengamot, the wizard's court. In the interim, Black was to be moved to a holding area, rather than the maximum security section, a Healer was to check him, and he was to be allowed to contact a lawyer.

The trial was held a week later, and Black was freed, when veritaserum, a truth drug, checks on his wand, and the fact that for such an alleged senior follower, he was unmarked, proved him innocent. His first request, was to be taken to his godson, Harry Potter. After threatening Dumbledore with kidnapping, as Harry was apparently not with any of the people Sirius knew that the Potters had designated, he and Amelia were taken to the Dursley's.

There, Dumbledore was shocked to find out that Harry had been hospitalised for the last three weeks. Amelia and Sirius told him to go back to Hogwarts as he was no longer responsible for Harry, and they would be taking care of Harry from now on. After visiting Harry in the hospital, they got a wizard Healer to come and give a second opinion. They were told by the Healer that Harry was in a magical coma, but was recovering and there was nothing that St. Mungo's could do, that the muggle hospital was not already doing. He also advised that he may stay in that state for months.

Sirius thus decided to leave Harry where he was, visiting him everyday. Within a week, an owl bearing his invitation to Hogwarts came. Sirius responded to it, stating that for health reasons, Harry would not be attending this year.


	3. Chapter 3

The months passed slowly, July changed to August, then September, with Sirius thinking on September 1, of what Harry was missing by not starting school this year. He then however realised that Harry was not missing anything, because based on his brief conversation with the Dursley's Harry did not know about his parents, his fame , magic or Hogwart's. He decided to pass and pay them another visit, to confirm his suspicions.

As the new year started at Hogwarts, a group of children, the first years, were led by a witch into a room, and told about the four Houses, that they would be sorted into one of hem, and that the Houses would be like their family whilst they were at Hogwarts. She then asked them to tidy themselves, as she would be back shortly to meet the other staff and students and be sorted.

As soon as she left, the students started whispering to each other, the main topic being how they would be sorted, as no-one knew, the topic soon changed to introductions. A bushy haired girl, to hide her nervousness, started muttering aloud the various spells she had read about. A Chinese and an Indian girl heard her, looked at her, looked at each other and simultaneously reached out and rapped their knuckles on her head.

"Ow", the bushy haired girl said, rubbing her forehead "What did you do that for"

the Indian girl replied " You were panicking, that was to stop you from stressing out. By the was my name is Padma" "Su Li" said the Chinese girl. The bushy haired one looked at the two of them, then turned to Padma and said " I am Hermione, and why does she want me to bring a legal action against Mr. Lee, whoever he is"

All three looked at each other and then laughed, although Su Li, then stated "Never, ever, give that stale joke again! And it is Li, not Lee"

Hermione smiled, quietly relieved that her therapists suggestion for making friends worked, and said " I won't, but it was too good an opportunity. Are you two, like me, new to magic?" "No" they both said "that is why we realised that you were panicking and stopped you, what house are you hoping to go to?" "At first I was aiming for Griffindor, but after reading how Headmaster Dumbledore messed up, by leaving so many Death Eaters free, I am hoping for Ravenclaw" "Good, so are we" Padma responded.

As they continued chatting, none of the three realised that it would be the start of a life long friendship.

In another section of the waiting room, a number of persons who had planned to be boasting of the greatness of being a pureblood, and making insulting remarks about muggleborn or blood traitors, were keeping very quiet. With the deaths of a parent or, in some cases, both parents, there was no one to back them up, and even in the school, with Snape gone, they were uncertain of how their planned dominance would change.

Eventually, they were led into the Great Hall and sorted, with Hermione, Padma and Su, getting their wish of going to Ravenclaw. Others however were not so fortunate. Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy and Weasley, all ended up in Hufflepuff. As the Hat told them, they had no cunning or ambition, no desire for knowledge or bravery, so they fall into the category of 'the rest'.

After the sorting, Dumbledore asked for a minute of silence for the passing of Professor Snape and the disappearance of Professor Quirrell. He then announced the new Professors, Vance for Potions and Shacklebolt for DADA, with Shacklebolt also being Head of Slytherin. With Snape's death, he had been forced to abandon his plans to keep the stone in the school, as there were no other teachers he trusted as much. There was thus no warnings about the third floor.

The year passed slowly, Sprout, as Head of Hufflepuff, had to come down heavily on Malfoy and Weasley, to ensure that peace reigned in the Hufflepuff boy's dormitory. Apart from that their was no excitement. When Malfoy picked up Longbottom's Rememberall, without permission, he was given a detention, as Sprout told him, "to nip a kleptomaniac habit in the bud." Shacklebolt had come to see his students reaction to their first flying lesson, and stopped it before it started due to the poor condition of the brooms. Eventually they were all replaced, and flying classes for all the first years started on new brooms.

As November drew to a close, Harry finally awakened. The first time his eyes opened, he was shocked as there was no one there that he knew, but he realised that he was in a hospital. With minutes he was asleep again. The second time he was awake, he stayed awake for hours, the doctors spent some time going over his condition with him, letting him know he had collapsed and had been in a coma since June, and that it was now November. They then told him that the Dursleys were facing charges regarding his treatment, and he had a new guardian, a friend of his parents. Sirius was then introduced to him.


	4. Chapter 4

As usual, JKR owns the Harry Potter world, not me.

Within a week, Harry was ready to be released from the hospital, as his body had been massaged and exercised regularly whilst he was in the coma. Sirius took him to a home he had rented nearby, and after he had shown him around, including his new bedroom, he took him to the kitchen, asked him to sit, and told him "OK, now for the promised talk about me and you"

He then explained to Harry that he, Sirius had been in jail, until recently, without a trial. He then asked Harry what he knew about his parents. Harry told what the Dursleys had said, and he shook his head, "They lied to you Harry".

He then took out his wand and cast a levitation spell on the teapot. Harry's eyes grew big. "That" Sirius said, "is an example of magic"

Sirius then went on to explain that Harry's parents were capable of doing magic, and he had inherited the talent. He explained that they had died in a terrorist attack, that he had survived, causing him to become famous in the wizarding world, he then explained briefly that the wizarding world lived separately from the non-magical, or muggle world.

They spent the next two hours talking about Harry's parents and the wizarding world. Sirius warned him that some of his information may be out of date, as he had been in prison for nearly ten years. He did however add that with Harry in the coma, he had used the time to catch up on events current to the wizarding world and recuperating from his stay in the prison.

The next day Harry woke up early and started to make breakfast, as the Dursleys had conditioned him, when Sirius saw this, he started talking him about his time with the Dursleys. By the end of the day, he was becoming more and more aware of the extent to which the Dursleys had stunted his growth, physically, emotionally and intellectually. He knew it was up to him to reverse these issues as much as possible before Harry started classes again. At this point, he was wondering if he would even send him to Hogwarts, with Dumbledore there, the same Dumbledore who was responsible for his problems.

The next morning, Sirius and Harry spoke again. Sirius pointed out that they both needed help adjusting to the world around them. Sirius, because of his time in Azkaban, Harry because of his unusual upbringing with the Dursleys. Harry agreed, as he had realized growing up that how the Dursleys treated him and Dudley,was not how the other children talked about their parents treating them.

They decided on a muggle psychologist, and both went to her. Over the next six months, there were regular visits by both of them, neither visiting the wizarding world during this time. By time July 1992 came around, both were feeling better about meeting with other people, and Sirius offered to hold a party for Harry, as a chance for him to meet with other children his age. The major issue to resolve, would be who to invite, based upon children his age, or based on the school he would attend. After the time with the psychologist, they were both believing that Dumbledore had messed up their lives, intentionally or not. Both wanted to stay as far from him as possible.

After looking at other educational options, they decided on Beauxbatons, or Eastern in the USA. They were close to England, and appeared to have a good curriculum. Also as they were not a British school, they would not be under the control of Dumbledore, and hopefully, Harry's "boy-who-lived" fame would not be as strong in Europe or the USA.

With regards to the party, they decided to have a function involving students from all three schools, i.e. including Hogwarts, as one group would represent his future class mates, the other future work mates if he stayed in England when he graduated from school.


	5. And now, the end is at hand

As usual, the author of this story is not JKR, it is a poor person, who is writing for fun, with the knowledge that they cannot make any money from it.

The party was held shortly after the schools had closed for the summer vacation and had a selection of students from Beauxbatons and Hogwarts, as well as North Eastern, a large American school, both current and potential, wizard and muggle raised/born. The children all had a spell cast on them, so that they could communicate freely with each other. With the exception of parents, there were no other adults. The children mingled freely, and those from Hogwarts noticed a distinct lack of pureblood dogma. Although the year had passed quietly, with no excitement from Trolls, detentions in the forest or forbidden corridors, they had all heard of Snape and his attitude to the students. The former first years were wondering how a supposedly smart man like Dumbledore had allowed a person with those attitudes to remain as a teacher. For some like Hermione, Su Li and Padma, they listened as the Beauxbatons and Eastern students talked about the educational system, especially the career guidance. Others like Susan Bones heard about the French and American Ministries, which were efficient, not bloated with corruption and nepotism, like the British Ministry. They all noticed that there was no division into Houses, like at Hogwarts, and as a result there was no built in segregation.

Harry walked amongst them, meeting with the aforementioned persons, as well as others including a young French blonde called Gabrielle and a British blonde named Luna. Sirius watched him, and was happy that the psychologist's treatment had worked, as he was not withdrawing from his fame, nor pushing himself on others like his cousin's son, Draco. When asked to show his scar, he told the questioner that he did not consider the reminder of his parents death as a trophy. Other than that put down, he mixed well with the other children, and apparently was being accepted by most of them..

There was one consequence of the party that Sirius had not foreseen. When Harry's decision to go to Beauxbaton's was published in the papers, a number of current and potential Hogwarts students read his reasons, agreed with him, and decided to join him, or or look at other schools. Dumbledore was not happy, as those students who were most capable were leaving,and only those who wanted to maintain a family tradition were staying. Sirius, when he heard what had happened laughed, and told Harry " Well, the party was such a success, that you will be seeing a lot of the people you met there at your new school" So said, so done. When, on September 1st, Harry went to the meeting point in London for Beauxbaton students, there were a lot of familiar faces, including Hermione and her friends, and Luna.

The new school year started at both schools without interruption. Lucius Malfoy had never told his son about the secret room with his cache of Dark Arts objects, and his wife was too scared after her husband's death to even mention it. The Riddle diary therefore remained where it was. Dobby did not disturb Harry. At Hogwarts, Shackleford was the DADA lecturer again, encouraging Dumbledore to believe the curse on the position was broken. There were no petrifications, and no rumours about parselmouths.

In France, things were also quiet. The wards had been designed to identify and stop any harmful objects. Harry had bought his wand and owl in Paris, during a visit in August, getting a male brown owl he called Woodstock, and holly and phoenix feather wand, that came from a phoenix that had donated many feathers for wands.

Harry made many friends, including Gabrielle, Hermione, Su, Padma, Luna and an excitable fellow first year called Colin Creevey, who was apparently always busy trying to take photos of everything in sight, when he was not studying. Encouraged by his fellow students, and his time with the psychologist, he studied hard, there were no distractions or disagreeable teachers to turn him off subjects. The teacher responsible for his year also encouraged all the students to excel, as intelligent students were easier to handle.

The year drew to a close, and Sirius decided to make the party experiment an annual event, again a mix of current and potential students, but getting students from all the years, even some that had graduated a year ago. Again, the new students were more impressed by the Beauxbaton students than the Hogwarts students. Once more there was a reduction in Hogwarts acceptances.

His second year, 1993 to 1994, was again a successful year for Harry, he did well in classes, and socially he improved. He spent time with a variety of people, male and female, he had pen pals in England, with whom he regularly exchanged letters. Although he always spent Christmas with Sirius, they were regularly invited by different people throughout Europe, whose children saw him as Harry, a smart fun guy, not the boy-who-lived.

His third year, saw the Tri-wizard competition restarted at Hogwarts, Gabrielle's big sister, Fleur went, and was chosen as the Beauxbaton Champion. When Harry heard what the Champions had to face, he was quite happy that he was not one.

The remaining years at school passed quietly for Harry.

For the British Ministry of Magic however, a trend was noticed. More and more, the students whose family did not have a long magical tradition, and who had previously been discriminated against in employment opportunities, were leaving British magical society. They were either returning to the non-magical world, as they were taking the non-magical classes alongside their magical education, or they were migrating to other countries. The British economy was shrinking, as the population base was falling, students were by-passing Hogwarts and the British magical world. Dumbledore's status was falling. The most well known wizard in Britain was no longer Dumbledore, but Harry Potter, whose fame was based not on his surviving Voldemort as a fifteen month old, but his annual parties, which allowed the future of the wizarding world to meet and mingle, sharing experiences of a variety of backgrounds, social and educational. Networking at its best.

As his seventh year started, Harry's biggest problem was not surviving Voldemort, who he hardly thought about, but which girl, Gabrielle, Luna or Su Li to date and how to let down the other two. He liked all of them, he knew they all liked him, and he was reluctant to upset any of the three. By the year end, he was no closer to making a decision, and eventually went to Hermione and Padma for advice, after laughing at him, they told him to remain friends with all three, as eighteen was too young to make a life long decision.

As his seventh year ended, he was invited by Dumbledore to visit him him at Hogwarts. Harry suggested that as he was unfamiliar with Hogwarts, they meet at the Leaky Cauldron. He met him there with Sirius, when Dumbledore indicated that he preferred to speak with him alone, Harry refused, stating that as his guardian, he wanted Sirius there. With a sigh of long suffering, Dumbledore started talking to Harry, accepting Sirius's presence. As Dumbledore started off by calling him Harry, or 'my dear boy', Harry decided that when he had to respond, he will call him Albus, as this was the first meeting he ever had with the man, who had dumped him at the Dursleys and never looked back.

Dumbledore told them that there was a prophecy claiming that Harry would be the one to defeat Voldemort, and Dumbledore's concern that Voldemort would return.

Harry then asked a few questions

"What exactly did the prophecy say"

"How did Voldemort learn about the prophecy"

"Why, if he, as the person to start the 'boy-who-lived' rumour, did the 'known story' state that Voldemort was dead, whilst he was now saying that he was still alive."

"Where is his proof that Voldemort is still alive"

"Why were all those marked followers left free, whilst he and Sirius were apparently punished, after Voldemort's 'defeat' "

Dumbledore repeated the prophecy to him, Harry listened and told him that neither Voldemort nor Harry were named in the prophecy.

Dumbledore then added that the scar from the encounter was the marking. Harry's response was that whilst he, Harry may have been part of the prophecy, unless Voldemort had a similar scar, the scar meant nothing. His survival of a possible death curse, as Voldemort's wand was never found or therefore tested, may have simply meant that he was to vanquish a different dark lord, and therefore as per the wording, no other person could kill him. Dumbledore responded that when he had checked the scar in 1981, he had noticed dark magic in the scar. He believed that it was some aspect of Voldemort left in the scar. Harry asked, "And how did you remove it" Dumbledore stated that he did not remove it, "As it may have come in useful later on"

Harry then asked, if the prophecy were about him and Voldemort, why did the curse fail to kill him, when the prophecy stated that Voldemort could kill him. Dumbledore trotted out the 'mother's sacrifice" story. Harry then asked, that as a wizard acknowledged to be versed in research, what exactly were the results of his research on what Lily Potter had done. Dumbledore looked blankly at him, so, Harry said " You never investigated a way to save other infant's lives"

Dumbledore refused to answer the question on how Voldemort found out about the prophecy, or how he, Dumbledore knew that Voldemort was aware of it.

Harry's next question was about the belief that Voldemort was still alive. Dumbledore answered that Voldemort had delved into dark magic and he therefore believed that the Halloween incident could not have killed him, Harry looked at him, after a moment he asked "Where is the proof of his survival" Dumbledore said he had found none so far.

Harry's last question was about the treatment of Sirius and himself vis a vis the marked persons who died in 1991. Dumbledore stated that he was sorry about the imprisonment of Sirius, who had slipped thru the legal system. Harry's stay at the Dursley's was essential as they were blood related to his mother, and at the time, there were still followers out there who would wish him harm. Harry did not point out that as there was no research on what Lily had done, this talk of blood relations was not logical. He was also curious that the fame and consequent danger was a result of Dumbledore's actions. He then waited, as he had also asked about the 'free' Death Eaters. Dumbledore's only comment was that they plead the imperious and got off. Harry then asked how their claim was not questioned at their trial. Dumbledore said that there was no trial. what about Snape and Dumbledore's statement that he was a spy, which apparently was enough to get him off, without a trial. No answer. Harry then stated "Apparently the court which, as Chief Warlock, you were in charge of, had many failures."

Harry then said, "So, let us summarize this conversation, you did not cure a fifteen moth old child of a scar with dark magic. You set up the said child to be a target of known killers. You dumped him on people without knowing anything about them, or asking them if they wanted him. You spent no effort on getting the suspected potential killers behind bars, but were apparently happy to leave them free, going so far as to hire one. Meanwhile you spent no time looking out for one of your own group, who was behind bars. You claim, without any evidence, that Voldemort is still alive, although you told, the population at large, or let them believe, that Voldemort was dead. Now, what do you expect me to do with this information?"

Dumbledore was stumped at this interpretation of his actions, and could not answer the question. Harry looked at him, and shook his head. "Sirius, let us leave, if Voldemort does return, he will be a problem for the British, let us move to the continent"

As he was walking away, he stopped looked at Dumbledore and laughed. " You do realize that the prophecy could apply to the two of us, and kill could refer not to physical death but making the other irrelevant. Think about it, at the start of 1991, you were a respected wizard, with a lot of power, in a rich society. Now you are an ignored person in a failing society. You let innocent persons suffer, whilst the guilty waked free, a sign of a dark lord. By your actions, you have made me as famous as you, 'marked me as your equal', and I have vanquished you, and the power you had not may be as simple as talking with others, rather than to them."

Author Notes

This short story started as an attempt to create a situation where Voldemort could be 'left hanging'. From that it mutated to Harry changing the society and reacting to Dumbledore's actions in a logical manner. No one ever seemed to ask "How did Voldemort survive, and how do we stop him for good". Whilst Harry was a child and so harried by events that he could be forgiven for not seeing the forests for the trees, what about the adults.

Also, why has no one queried Dumbledore setting up Harry as a target, then stating, that as a target, he must be with blood relatives.

Without the diary, Dumbledore did not find out about the horcruxes, and thus never went after the ring.

You may also notice that as usual, I do not bring up the question of Harry's alleged wealth or any purported titles, as both are non existent or irrelevant, take your pick.

I deliberately did not deal with whether the horcruxes were destroyed or just neutralized by distance.


End file.
